Two of the sticks look like they got fairly wet and that probably contributed to it breaking premature. The other stick looks like it was just a shanked ball that broke the string I would use 16 gut mains and would use ALU regular instead of rough. You also should pull out a stick strung with synthetics when it's raining.

Well full gut in an Aero Pro Drive is already suicide. So at any gauge thinner than 15, I wouldn't even think about it. Grommets also can explain that, but yeah, not sure about full gut in such a frame, despite all the qualities it has.

I just got an ADP strung up with cheap Indian gut and hit with it last night...seems like there is one spot close to the sweet spot looking kinda precarious to breakage and I only hit with it for like 30 min...

I've used the same Indian gut on a pure drive and it doesn't seem to have the same problem.

Wished I had known that APD and natural gut together is a bad combo...what other racquets should we not use natural gut?

Last edited by Doctor of Tennis : 06-15-2013 at 12:28 AM.
Reason: typos

My guess, based on how you wore off most of the black-dyed coating in just several hours, is that your playing style is more suited for polys/kevlar than gut.

You probably are a baseliner with extreme power and topspin. You can still use gut, but you'll have to be able to shell out a lot of money to cover the expenses.

The alternative guess is that the VS BT7 really sucks. (I have had a couple of people tell me it popped in their bag before the first use)

The black VS doesn't wear like that, you can tell by looking at it that it got really wet and that is why it wore off. Secondly, the new VS is plenty durable if nothing else. People hate BT7 for many reason, but I haven't heard of it's durability really being questioned. Maybe I'm wrong??

I just got an ADP strung up with cheap Indian gut and hit with it last night...seems like there is one spot close to the sweet spot looking kinda precarious to breakage and I only hit with it for like 30 min...

I've used the same Indian gut on a pure drive and it doesn't seem to have the same problem.

Wished I had known that APD and natural gut together is a bad combo...what other racquets should we not use natural gut?

Using gut in an Aeropro isn't necessarily a bad idea. It just depends on your playing style. Also, I'm willing to bet it is the inconsistency in the Indian gut no weither you were using a Pure Drive or an Aeropro drive. Those two sticks will wear similarly with gut.

Using gut in an Aeropro isn't necessarily a bad idea. It just depends on your playing style. Also, I'm willing to bet it is the inconsistency in the Indian gut no weither you were using a Pure Drive or an Aeropro drive. Those two sticks will wear similarly with gut.

I play mostly from baseline, trying to hit like a certain clay GOAT (of course mostly failing miserably at that)...probably not a good style for natural gut, but I can't stand RPM and most polys...

well, with the Pure Drive, the Indian gut feels awesome, lot's of touch, very comfortable, good spin, maybe a tad too powerful, I really enjoy hitting with it. I've probably put like 3-4 hrs on it, still going strong

Indian gut on the APD on the other hand, feels terrible, tons of vibration despite having a nice rubber band on it, totally amplifies the "hollow" feeling many people complain about with the APD. In short, my APD feels like a pingy rocket launcher with this Indian gut. I kinda wish the strings broke...can't stand it.

I got the strings from the same guy on the bay, although different batches, but he probably got them from the same source in India, so probably not too much different.